By IANS,
Beijing : Eighteen trains were halted in a Chinese province after a truck overturned and the chemicals it was carrying leaked out, triggering a power shutdown in the railway contact system, the railways ministry said.
The incident took place Sunday evening in northwest Gansu province, Xinhua reported. Railway traffic was halted for over seven hours, affecting a total of 18 trains.
The truck, which was running on a parallel road to the railway track, was loaded with silicon tetrachloride.
When it overturned, the chemical leaked out and mixed with rain, and eroded the railway’s contact system, leading to the power shutdown, the ministry said.
The trains were just three km away from the accident site, it said.
Windows of the trains were closed and the trains were taken back to nearby stations. Passengers’ health was not affected, the ministry said.
A section of the track reopened to traffic Sunday midnight after power supply was restored, local railway authorities said.